Ukrainian Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets criticized the ICRC for providing information on visits to prisoners of war in Ukraine and Russia. The ombudsman called on the organization to provide true figures and insist on visiting Ukrainian prisoners of war, UNN reports.
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"I learned from the media that the head of the ICRC delegation to Russia gave an interview to Russian propagandists. In it, the head of the delegation said that the ICRC staff in Ukraine and Russia visited 3100 prisoners of war. However, he did not specify how many visits were made separately in both countries. The reason for this is that almost all of those visited out of this number are Russian prisoners of war held by Ukraine, because our country steadfastly adheres to the requirements of the Geneva Conventions," Lubinets said on Telegram.
In particular, according to him, "during the last exchange of prisoners of war, which took place on July 17, the Russians told the staff of our Office that delegations often visit their places of detention. So often that they don't even remember who visited them.
"In addition, during meetings with the families of Ukrainian prisoners of war, ICRC representatives, under the guise of neutrality, say that "both sides" should grant access to the organization's representatives. And they forget to add that it is the Russian side that should change the practice of not allowing ICRC staff to visit places of detention of Ukrainian captured defenders," Lubinets said.
He emphasized that "communicating with our Defenders and Defenders returned from enemy captivity, I learn that the vast majority of them have not seen or communicated with ICRC representatives during their detention.
"So I call on the International Committee of the Red Cross to operate with true numbers and not to mislead the most respected category of people in Ukraine - family members of prisoners of war. And also to show courage and perseverance in the issue of visiting Ukrainian prisoners of war," Lubinets emphasized.